Under Cover of Darkness
by cryptexus
Summary: One night, one synth running for his life, one repairman unwillingly dragged in, one objective: get to safety. Pursued by the Institute and surrounded by the dangers of the Commonwealth, they walk the long march home under the cover of darkness. M for violence and cursing.


_Oh fuck me… ah shit this stings… I've gotta say calm… where's the—ah there we go, stimpak. Shit… why did I have to wear the good jacket today… of all days… look at this burn… Alright, this shouldn't—ahh…! Fuck me, it did…! Shit… there we go… bless whoever invented this stuff…_

 _Now where the fuck am I? What even happened back there…!? They shouldn't even know about this place! My day was going fine and a billion fuckin' clankers just stormed in… Why would they come her—the synth! It must've been that new synth they dragged in…! Son of a…_

 _Why do they even have to bring 'em here… they're fucking robots, what's the obsession with 'em… I didn't sign up for this shit… all I wanted was a job to keep me occupied, a place to rest my head and security to keep the bloody thing attached!_

 _It doesn't matter now… I have to run… The gun… where's the gun… Alright, one in the chamber and… where's the fuckin' button… alright… three in the mag… four shots… Looks like the bastard used the shit out of this thing… not that it mattered anyway… Stop. I shouldn't think about the… the… oh shit that scorched skull… I'm gonna' die… I'm so dead… a fuckin' trained fighter got toasted, what chance do I have?_

 _Snap out of it! I have to move… Damn my leg hurts… Alright… this way then, away… Ahh I can't see shit in here! Doesn't matter, keep moving… doesn't matter, keep moving… just keep moving…_

 _Fuck I hear them… I have to go faster… fast—They're coming from the front… Oh shit… I'm gonna die… I'm so gonna die… Fuck it! I'm going down fighting! They-they're not gen 1s! Fuck he's aiming at me!_

" _Don't shoot!"_

 _Shit, there are two of them… are they friendly? Railroad armour! But he's not lowering his gun! What the fuck-._

" _Do you have a Geiger counter?!"_

" _Wha-. I-."_

" _Do you have a Geiger counter!? Don't make me ask again!"_

" _It's in the shop! Mine's in the shop!"_

* * *

The smaller of the two men lowered his gun slightly, satisfied with the answer. "Who are you?" He asked; his tone angry and suspicious, no doubt still ready to shoot at a moment's notice if he gets the wrong answer.

"I wo-worked in the safehouse! I'm with you!"

"What's your name?" He asked, gun still at the ready.

"R-Robbo."

"Robbo? You're a synth?"

"No! That's just my nickname. My name's Robert!" He stammered.

The man nodded. "They call me Bones. This is Theo." He motioned his head to the figure beside him, who moved closer so Robbo could see him.

Robbo looked at the figure. Plain was an understatement; short, brown hair, pale skin, worn coat, ragged shirt, patched up jeans and boots, average height. He looked like anyone you might expect to find in Boston. But something about him felt odd, Robbo felt like he saw the man before, somewhere critical, somewhere— _Oh shit, it's that synth they brought._

"Well, technically my designation is H-Kay-Tee-Zero. But he seems the prefer Theo." He said, his voice even, near emotionless.

Their conversation was interrupted by the grinding of rusted hinges and the thuds of feet meeting concrete echoing through the halls.

"Ahh… fuck…" Bones muttered. "Well, 'Robbo,' if you're keen to stay alive, we better get moving," he said before turning around and starting on a fast walk, not even waiting for his response. Theo followed swiftly behind.

He didn't even think before running to catch up with the other two, ignoring the pain in his leg. He had his doubts, but idea of being fried by a dozen gen 1s wasn't very appealing to him; this was definitely the better option. _What the fuck have I gotten myself into?!_

* * *

The hallways were dark, but the three rushed through regardless. Robbo wondered where they were going. The other two seemed to be very sure about where to go, despite Robbo not being able to see three feet in front of him. "This way," Bones commanded before taking a turn, stopping when he met a door.

With a hard kick, the door flew open; the rusted joints not able to cope with the impact. He wordlessly walked in, followed by Theo and Robbo.

The room appeared to be a maintenance room of some sort; toolboxes and various mechanical and electrical components were strewn about, along with an inactive mister handy. A dim ceiling light was the only source of illumination, not allowing for great vision, but it didn't matter as Bones immediately led them to a stairway up on the corner of the room.

"Secret exit; just for something like this." He explained. "I don't like using this one but they cut us off from the other one." He added as he climbed up the stairway and out through an opening at the top.

Robbo was still hesitant. _What if they're waiting for us? If they could find that thing in a secret safehouse, what chance does this place have?_

The stairway led up to a dilapidated building. Where there was still the dull light illuminating the room in the basement, this room was completely dark. Bones activated a flashlight and scanned the room. Protectrons stood inactive in their pods, and more inactive Mister Handies lined the walls. On one side was a terminal on a table, connected to the pods of Protectrons. On the other side was a door, which both Bones and Theo had already started walking towards.

The door opened to a rather grand hallway. Robbo didn't even have time to admire his surroundings as he ran to keep up with the other two. He nearly crashed into them when they suddenly stopped.

"Shh…" Bones whispered, telling him to be quiet.

Robbo peered over their shoulders to see a huge, luxurious lobby, with high ceiling and a huge desk on one side. Floor to ceiling windows and an ornate entryway lined the far wall, showing the moonlit night. He immediately pulled back and pressed against the wall in panic when he saw a group of Gen 1 searching through said lobby. "What do we do?" He asked, his voice stuttering as he panicked. He was met with Theo wrapping a hand over his mouth as a response.

Bones motioned for them to back away, Robbo wasn't about to argue, he wanted nothing to do with a fight. They slowly crept backwards when they noticed a Gen 1 rounding a corner from the direction they came from. It turned its disturbingly human head to their direction and immediately raised its weapon, crying out "Target found!" to alert its buddies.

Robbo was about to run in panic when he heard a gunshot from beside him. With a clank, the bullet shattered most of the Gen 1's head, leaving its body to fall in a heap.

His ears were ringing, his heart was racing, he just stood there, frozen, until a hand dragged him to the direction of the lobby and behind the huge desk, forcing him to get down. Lasers started firing as the patrolling Gen 1s joined in the fight.

"Fuck…!" Bones exclaimed, trying to keep his head down. "Looks like we're not going to escape clean!" He peered over the table and took a few shots at one of the synths, quickly ducking down as a laser hit dangerously close to his head.

Robbo sat against the counter, hyperventilating, completely panicked when he was snapped out of it by Bones shaking him violently.

"What the fuck are you doing? Use that thing!" He commanded, shaking the arm that was holding the gun.

"I-I can't do this! I'm just the-the repairman!" He stammered.

"You're going to be the dead man if you just sit there!"

Robbo turned to see a synth peeking behind the desk. He screamed and raised his gun, his hand shaking, and fired wildly at the direction of the synth. 10mm rounds weren't the most powerful, but by some dumb luck he managed to hit the synth's neck, severing the connection between its primary processor and the rest of its body, before nothing more came out from his gun other than clicks.

"Nice! Give me that!" Bones commanded, Robbo didn't even argue, he wanted nothing to do with that gun anymore, luck won't favour him every time. Bones dug into a pouch on his equipment belt and pulled out a magazine as he let the empty one drop from the gun. He shoved the magazine in and chambered a round. Instead of handing it back to Robbo, he handed it to the person crouched on his other side.

Theo wordlessly took the gun and, to Robbo's astonishment, stood up. He raised the gun and loosed a bullet, which pierced a synth's dome. He swiftly ducked down, avoiding a laser fired in his direction and peeked over the side of the desk, shooting down another synth.

Robbo was in awe. _Just who is this synth!?_

Bones started to join in, peeking over the table and taking pot shots, ducking when the synth started to target him.

More of the synths started to fall. Gen 1s weren't greatly threatening, but their strength lies in number and infinite expendability, which proved itself as they kept swarming in faster than they can be destroyed. Even more alarmingly, the pursuing synths from the hallway were getting close judging by the footsteps.

"We have to move." Bones called out as he reloaded his gun. He started to scan the room and stopped when he saw a staircase off to the side. "There! Stairway! Run for it!"

On cue, all three stood up and dashed for the staircase. Bones kept firing at the synths to cover their movement, Theo was out of bullets by this point, and Robbo was just hoping not to get shot as he hobbled on. To make things worse, the staircase went up, and Robbo seriously doubted that there would be an exit on the higher floors. He was sure that things couldn't get any worse.

Things got worse as they reached the top of the staircase onto the next floor. There were more hallways lined with doors that had numbered plaques on top. The alarming thing however, was the figure standing in the middle of the hallway, clad in black with a sleek overcoat and a pair of sunglasses obscuring his steely gaze.

 _Oh fuck they sent a courser!_

"Run!" Yelled a voice. It wasn't Bones however, Robbo realised the command came from Theo. It was the first time Robbo saw the synth showing anything resembling emotion; unfortunately, that emotion was fear.

They immediately ran into one of the hallways, desperately trying to get away from the courser. There wasn't much hope now, running from a courser was just delaying the inevitable. The sound of footsteps running after them echoing through the dark hallways was clear enough sign of that, there was no chance they could outrun it.

As they rounded a corner, Bones dashed ahead and smashed into one of the doors. The other two immediately ran in and he closed the door behind them.

"Oh we are fucked… we are so dead…" Robbo muttered as he paced around the ruined hotel room. The footsteps were still fast approaching.

Bones hushed him as he pressed his ear against the door.

Robbo felt like his heart was about to explode with how hard it's beating. Theo was in no better state, nervously watching the door.

The rumbling footstep outside ceased. Robbo couldn't tell if that meant the courser was far away or just slowed enough that he couldn't hear the footsteps from this far into the room.

The silence was broken by the loud crash of a door being kicked in. It made the three jump and back away, Bones handing another magazine to Theo as he kept his own gun trained squarely at the door. Another crash followed, closer this time.

Robbo ducked away under the bed, ignoring the skeleton laying on it. He had worse things to be scared of right now. It was only a matter of time until that courser reached the door to this room and then… well, then it's over for all of them.

Another crash followed, then another, louder still, until finally the inevitable happened. The door flew open with little resistance, having been smashed into previously for them to get in, and crashed against the wall; the sound reverberating in the room. The courser stood at the doorframe, laser pistol drawn.

Bones fired at him but it was a futile effort, it barely flinched as it raised its own weapon and fired.

His body hit the floor, smoke emanating from what remained of his head as Robbo gasped in shock.

 _Oh shit he's dead! He's dead and I'm next! Why does this have to happen!? Why does it end like this!? Why-._

A hand grabbed him by his jacket's collar and pulled him up. He looked, still in shock, at the direction he was being pulled towards. His eyes widened as he realised what was about to happen. _Oh no no no no NO NO!_

With a crash, the window shattered and they fell into the darkness.


End file.
